Answers to the most common questions about PIONEER and the Privacy Buddy app.
Yes. Privacy Buddy is completely free. There are no ads, no in-app purchases and no paid tiers.
You can create an account to save your settings and compare your results with others. Most of the application analysis runs on our servers to generate your results and reports, while some processing happens on your device.
If you prefer not to connect, Privacy Buddy also offers an offline mode.
F-Droid lets us distribute the app directly, without a Google account or the Play Store's proprietary services, which fits the project's privacy goals. It also keeps updates simple.
No. Privacy Buddy is designed for everyday users. Findings are explained in plain language, with clear recommendations you can act on.
If you installed through F-Droid, updates arrive automatically like any other F-Droid app. If you installed the APK manually, you'll need to update it manually.
PIONEER is a research project on digital privacy competence, carried out by researchers across several institutions.
